Yesterday, I slammed Fox News, and I shall do so again today. There is a certain difficulty in convincing some people that Fox is not a legitimate news source. To some people, it’s the only news without a liberal bias, and to others it is laughable. In my life, only two people have told me that they watch Fox News exclusively; one person said it’s because Fox is the only reliable source for news. The other person said that all TV news is disingenuous but Fox news is less so because it is so obviously farcical. I share her opinion to some extent, but I really can’t share her commitment to it.

As to credibility, there is an easy way to keep score. Go to the truth-o-meter at politifact.com and count the number of “false” or “pants on fire” ratings of statements from Fox News, or conservative statements cited as fact by Fox News. There are quite a lot. Politifact is non-partisan and rates statements by Democrats as well as Republicans. Also, check out this post by Esther Dyston on the importance of being skeptical of any information, whether it comes from Fox News or CNN or the Huffington Post.

Moreover, we should not fall into the trap of thinking that credibility is a partisan issue. There are credible conservative news sources. They just aren’t on TV—at least, not any more. If you really don’t understand why people say Fox News is complete trash, spend some time reading The Chicago Tribune, or The Washington Post or even The Economist. The last is British and admittedly, British conservatism is pretty liberal by American standards. If you spend a month or so reading these and Fox News still looks pretty good, then there is nothing I can do for you.